18 THE WILD CAT OF EUROPE. 



The Wild Cat being much larger than the Tame, and 

 the Cat of the Mountain larger than the Wild Cat." 



Some portions of the Wild Cat appear in his time 

 to have been employed as medical aids : — " 1st. The 

 flesh of the Wild Cat is particularly helpful to the 

 gout. 2. The fat is hot, dry, emollient, discussive, 

 and anodyne; mixed with palm oil and oil of aniseed, 

 dissolves tumours, eases pain, prevails against nodes 

 on the skin and the cold gout. 3, The blood of the 

 tail of a Bore Cat, 10 drops mixed with six grains of 

 salt of manskuU, with 10 grains of the powder of 

 ox horns, will cure the falling sickness. 4. Certain 

 excrements made into a powder, and mixed with 

 mustard seed, juice of onions, and bear's grease, 

 enough to form an ointment, cures baldness and 

 the Alopecia." 



In 1697, Nicolas Cox ('The Gentleman's Kecrea- 

 tion, or a Treatise giving the best directions for 

 hunting and killing all manner of chases used in 

 England, &c.'), in his remarks upon the Marten and 

 the Wild Cat, says :— " This (the Martern) and the 

 Wild Cat are a sort of vermin, which are here in 

 England commonly to hunt and as necessary to be 

 hunted as any vermin can be. For the question may 

 be doubtful, whether either Fox or Badger do more 

 hurt than the Wild Cat doth, since there are so 

 many warrens everywhere throughout the kingdom of 

 England which are very much infested by the Wild 

 Cat. It is the opinion of long experienced huntsmen 

 that she leaveth as great a scent, and maketh as good 

 a cry for the time as any vermin that is hunted, 

 especially the Martern passeth all other vermin for 

 sweetness of scent and her Case is a noble Furr. The 

 Wild Cat's Case is not so good, but it is very warm 



